You may recall back at the start of this academic year we reported on the answer to a Written Parliamentary Question where Labour’s Emma Hardy found out that just twelve students had enrolled on a qualifying course in the first September of the government’s short course trial.
As the first “live” test of demand for the Lifelong Loan Entitlement it was hardly a glowing endorsement for the idea that undergraduate-style loans were the key to a skills revolution. Prospective students had access to fee loans covering the full cost of the course, and providers had ring-fenced bursaries (a total England-wide value of £2.5m) to support such students in their other costs.
The much missed Andrea Jenkyns was minister at the time – she told Hardy that:
“The nature of these short courses means they are not tied to the concept of the academic year and providers have discretion on when to deliver these courses. The department expects the majority of courses to start from January 2023.
